Hello Blog!

Well, hello there blog! I have missed you! Of course, I have a ton of reasons why I haven't posted. There was that whole Christmas thing...... And then I missed the boat on doing one of those "year in review" or "here's to 2013" posts. To catch you up to speed, we had 2 weeks off over the holidays and it was a mix of traveling as well as relaxing and/or working on the studio.

Yeah, remember the studio??? Back in September, we had some water damage due to the flat roof needing to be replaced. We had a company come out and replace the roof and I don't even have the energy to get into the story of the hassles there. Then, we planned to redo the interior ourselves.

It has taken us this long to get this far. But keep in mind, we both work full time and have a toddler. Life moves at a different pace here. We can really only work on things when he is sleeping or if we take a day off while he is at daycare. Luckily, he is such a good sleeper that he does not wake up to the sound of saws, nail guns, hammering and floor sanders!

We replaced the entire ceiling with new insulation and drywall. Mudding/sanding came next and then we applied a "texture" that was the same as what we have in our living room and dining room. However, this was the first time we tried it ourselves. Jon would roll on one section of mud, and I would create the swirls with a wallpaper brush. We are pretty darn proud of how it turned out! The final step was a coat of paint on the ceiling.

 

All eight windows in the room had blinds on them - which I didn't mind - but we decided to do "real" window treatments and purchased the rods and fabric panels after lots of debate on the design (I won)!

 

We then picked the paint color based on the widow treatments. The first color we put up was all wrong, so that was a redo. The brown is nice and it really changes a lot depending on the time of day and light.

 

All of the wood trim on the windows is new, and this weekend my job was filling the nail holes, taping off, and then painting it 2 coats of cream. We also rented a floor sander to prep for new stain/varnish.

 

So - next steps? Stain/coat the floor. Purchase/cut and stain baseboard trim and put it up. Install the window treatments. Touch up any minor paint flaws. I think we've agreed on a rug, so we need to purchase that too.

 

I have off next Monday, and I would REALLY, REALLY, REALLY like to use that day to put everything back into the room and thoroughly clean the house. That is the goal anyway. Hopefully it will happen. I am ready to be done with this project and get back to creating.

 

We have been in this house 10 years now, and have redone several rooms whether it be by choice or by some natural disaster. I am kind of over the whole DIY thing. Yes, it saves money and yes we know how to do it. When you are new to home owning, it is exciting. But at this point in my life there are a million other things I would rather be doing! The other option though is to have random strangers in your home (I get weird about that) who might not do things exactly like you would. Either way, home improvements are stressful!

Anyway, wish me luck! I can't wait to show pics of the completed room here! I thought it very appropriate to take an outfit pic amongst the construction:

 

Tops - Macy's (last year)

Pants - A.N.A. c/o JC Penney

Belt - Quadrivium c/o Anthropologie

Necklace - Maurice's (years ago)

Boots - Croft & Barrow c/o Kohl's (Christmas Gift)

 

Lotsa buckles on the belt & boots to tie it all together! I love buckles!